>> Almost everyone I know who purchases houses/apartments to rent them would get out of the business if vacancies were taxed

>Yes, you've successfully articulated the point.

And the goal. Why raise taxes on vacancies? To push out owners whose primary goal is to leach out a few percentage points above loans they can get or to sit on property while it appreciates in value (while harvesting tax benefits on the depreciation of the structures they maintain to a minimum because _margins_)

There just shouldn't be a class of people whose business is harvesting tax benefits and arbitrage of trust by banks.